


Tree Sitters at Midnight

by kibasniper



Category: Psychonauts (Video Games)
Genre: During Canon, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Late at Night, Missing Scene, Prompt Fic, Tree Climbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28080264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kibasniper/pseuds/kibasniper
Summary: Raz and Lili have some time to themselves after the brain stealing incident and go back to where they met.
Relationships: Razputin Aquato/Lili Zanotto
Kudos: 14





	Tree Sitters at Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> the third of the twitter ficlet requests! this was requested by bidetectives who asked for "raz and lili go tree climbing maybe! or raz making a friendship bracelet for lili in return"

At the crack of dawn, Raz had traversed through minefields and at the stroke of midnight, he defeated the mental demons haunting him and Coach Oleander. He raced with the bulls and evaded the suspicion of various government workers. He rescued the brains of his fellow PSI cadets and earned the respect of his teachers. All of it happened within the span of a long, arduous, blur of a day.

But despite battling critics in floating contraptions and gun-toting girl scouts, what he distinctly remembered was his first kiss. Thorney Towers crumbled around them. Smoke wafted through the stench of pepper and oily fumes. Lili leaned forward and took the initiative with courage that he lacked. She was warm and soft, lips chapped like his own, and he savored the kiss even when they ran for their lives from debris crashing all around them.

Now, he walked to the campfire area, Lili’s hand in his own. He found himself solely focused on her. She was talking a mile a minute. Every word was an exclamation about their adventure. She pressed him for details, which he eagerly provided. Whether it was about his uphill battle through the twisted corridors of the asylum or the unique mindscapes of the variety of patients, she wanted to know everything.

“And Edgar turned out to be the bull?” she asked, eyes wide as they came out to the clearing.

“Yeah! He was so focused on his high school memories that it controlled him all these years later,” he said, surveying the tree logs and stumps. “So, where do you wanna sit? Lots of room to go around.”

Lili raised her head, and he followed her gaze. She focused on the hollowed tree Oleander used for his stage and shook her head when he suggested it. She pivoted on her heels, pointing at the swath of looming trees surrounding them, an impish grin pressing into her cheeks.

“Let’s go up there,” she said, a spark of authority in her voice. She released his hand and hurried on ahead, snickering. “After all, it suits a tree sitter like you.”

“Hey!” Raz called, smiling. He raised his right hand to his heart and extended his left index finger to the sky. “‘A good Psychonaut makes use of any and all utilities available to him to accomplish the mission’ says Agent Nein in True Psychic Tales issue 193.”

“I don’t think that included watching over us like a certain lake monster,” she remarked, walking to the base of the tree. She looked up, gauging the height before grabbing a growth on the side and began to climb.

He pursued her when she made a decent headway. He didn’t want to scale the tree too quickly in case he threw her off her groove, but to his surprise, Lili snatched the bark and ascended swiftly, like a prowling cat. The only ones able to keep up with his climbing skills were his siblings, who started their acrobatic training the second they could stand. He watched in awe as Lili maneuvered her way to the thick base of a sturdy branch faster than he could place his foot on an extending sliver of bark.

“What’s taking you so long?” she asked, sitting and grinning down at him.

“I did just save the world, you know. I’m a little lacking in strength right now,” he said, puffing as he dug in his heels around the tree. He wrapped his arms around it and shimmeyed his way up to her.

“You climb like such a boy.”

“Says the girl who climbed like a pyrokinetic cougar, which I didn’t know was possible since-” Raz grunted and hoisted himself next to her, Lili scooting over for him. “-a person can’t have claws unless he’s suffering from a severe psitanium mutation.”

Lili wiggled her fingers and grinned. “Well, I’ve been climbing trees here for years and perfected my technique.” She tapped her elbow into his ribs. “Just because you had the advantage of circus training doesn’t mean you’re the only one who can climb trees. I’ve seen Chloe practically fly up a tree a matter of seconds.”

“She can - wait, you heard that?” he asked, gripping his head. A chuckle escaped him, cheeks coloring a soft red. “But I, uh, I thought my mental defenses were armored like a tank.”

She touched her temples. “Well, I guess you have a tendency to lower your guard when you’re impressed with what you see.”

“Right back at you, Miss Shut Up and Kiss Me,” he said, returning the gesture as his elbow nudged into her shoulder.

Affronted, she gasped and pushed his shoulder. “I only thought that because I didn’t know you could read minds!” She crossed her arms and kicked her legs back and forth, lips tightly pursing together.

Raz laughed and raised his arm. He let it dangle behind her back, suddenly unsure of what to do with it. He read comics and saw movies where the boy would wrap it around his girlfriend and bring her close. The moment seemed perfect for it, but his arm remained still, a bout of bashful uncertainty freezing the muscles in his hand.

Lili noticed his fingers peeking around her neck. She glanced at him, raising her eyebrows as Raz offered a sheepish, lopsided grin. She rolled her eyes and leaned into him, mumbling that she had to do everything, but the hint of a smile on her face alleviated his concerns.

He held her close like he did when shielding her from the onslaught of debris. She relaxed into him, lacing her fingers. Sighing, Raz set his cheek on top of her head and breathed in the scents of pepper and flowers wafting from her hair. Sitting alone with her, he decided that this was the moment he would certainly treasure the most during his time in Whispering Rock.


End file.
